Dandelions
by TheWammy'sHouseReject
Summary: He was like a dandelion floating in the wind...there one moment, gone the next.


This oneshot is a prequel of sorts to a story I will do later, encompassing certain aspects of Deidara's childhood. Because Deidara needs a proper backstory, damn it!

Anyway, read, review, and please check out my website XD (beyondsfanfiction .webs .com)

Deidara liked to move fast. He ran from one place to another so fast that the Tsuchikage could barely keep up with him.

"Hold on, Deidara!"

"Catch me if you can, old man!" Deidara laughed, running as fast as seven-year-old legs could carry him. (which was faster than Oonoki's legs could, despite him currently being the taller of the two.)

"…I'm getting too old for this," Oonoki muttered.

Their training sessions always ended up like this. Deidara running, Tsuchikage chasing, until Deidara finally exhausted his seemingly limitless energy.

They ran through the streets of Iwagakure, drawing confused glances from passersby. Those who were not familiar with their routine were always puzzled at why this young child was being chased by an old man.

Their chase led them straight into a grassy field, full of white-topped dandelions. Deidara stopped, looking out at the field with something akin to amazement.

"Look at all this, Tsuchikage-sensei," he marveled. "There must be thousands of them out here."

Tsuchikage was too busy catching his breath to respond.

_Damn lively little brat, _he thought, though his usual vitriol was gone.

Deidara knelt down and picked one of the dandelions. He closed his eyes in concentration, and then blew off all but a few of the white spores. He opened his eyes and made a small noise of disappointment.

"Why the long face, Deidara?" Oonoki asked.

"My wish isn't gonna come true, hn."

(That annoying verbal tic of his again. No matter how many times he tried, Oonoki couldn't get him to stop that.)

"What does that mean?" Tsuchikage asked.

"I heard that if you can blow all the seeds off a dandelion with one breath, then you get any wish you want," Deidara stated matter-of-factly. "But I missed some, see?" he held up the stem, with three little seeds still attached.

"What did you wish for?"

Deidara pouted.

"I can't tell you that, hn. Besides, it doesn't matter anymore."

Deidara's face lit up. He stood and ran further down the hill, gathering as many dandelions as he could hold. Oonoki watched this with a detached amusement.

Deidara ran back to him with his hands full of dandelions. He knelt back down and carefully began pulling off the heads until he had two handfuls of white fluff.

"Now, even in I can't blow off all the seeds, maybe someone will still hear my wish."

The gentle breeze blew past, ruffling the boy's golden hair. He looked so sweet and innocent, a child with a handful of hope.

The fluff blew away in the breeze, floating gently through the air like a million tiny butterflies. Deidara watched with a smile on his face, hope glittering in his cerulean eyes.

"Please bring back my wish," he whispered, clasping his hands together in silent prayer.

It didn't last long, however. He soon recoiled in disgust as the mouths in the palms of his hands intertwined their tongues.

"Gross!" he moaned. "That's really disgusting."

Oonoki laughed. He couldn't help it.

Tsuchikage passed Deidara's room late that night, catching wind of some of Deidara's nocturnal mutterings.

"Hn…I wish…"

Curiosity getting the better of him, Oonoki walked into the room. He wondered if he was talking about the wish he had made earlier.

"I wish…I could be normal, too."

Oonoki paused.

"Dandelions…aren't as much fun…when you taste them, hn."

Tsuchikage glanced down at the palms of his hands. As always, there was nothing there.

But Deidara would always have that deformity. He would always have his inhuman hands.

He ruffled Deidara's hair gently before walking out again.

He isn't sure why the news of Deidara's death saddens him. The boy had betrayed the village, killed innocent people…and yet, he was saddened by his passing.

Deidara was like a dandelion floating in the wind. There one moment, gone the next. Something simple and beautiful, destroyed before it had a chance to truly shine.

A diamond in the rough, but a diamond nonetheless.

Explosions. They fit him, somehow. Deidara liked change. Liked things constantly shifting, becoming different than they were before.

So, it almost makes sense.

Tsuchikage finally receives information about Deidara's past- information he'd been requesting for a very long time.

Experiments.

Torture.

It was sick, and inhumane. To treat a child like that was almost criminal. No, it _was _criminal.

Art. Deidara had always liked art. He had dragged Oonoki to see many foolish art exhibits in their short time together, Oonoki had never been interested in such things. He failed to see why it interested his student so.

Now, at last, he thinks he understands.

Art was his life. It was a way to let your feelings out, without losing your self control the way shinobi were always taught not to.

And Deidara had let those feelings of anger out with a bang. A destructive and vindictive temper tantrum.

Deidara was prone to throwing tantrums when he was first given to Tsuchikage to train. He had terrible nightmares that sometimes robbed him of sleep for days on end.

And now, Oonoki finally knew why.

He just wished he would have known earlier.


End file.
